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Ibrahimovic earns Ksh 2.5b-a-year at United.

Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates scoring in the League Cup final against Southampton in February, which United won 3-2. PHOTO/FILE.

LONDON, United Kingdom, May 9 – Figures obtained by journalists in Germany claim to reveal that Manchester United are paying Zlatan Ibrahimovic a salary of more than £19m.

The figures, published in a new book called Football Leaks: The Dirty Business of Football, say Ibrahimovic’s weekly wage at Old Trafford is £367,600.

That is more than double the £165,500 United are paying the world’s most expensive player Paul Pogba, according to the same claims.

United, who announced an operating profit of more than £37m in their most recent quarterly figures and topped the Deloitte Money League in January, told Sky Sports News HQ they “never comment on contract matters”.

Ibrahimovic ran down his Paris Saint-Germain deal last summer and did not cost United a transfer fee, while the club paid out a record £89m to re-sign Pogba back from Juventus.

The Swede is currently recuperating after surgery on a knee injury and is out of contract at United in the summer having hit 28 goals in his first season, but the 35-year-old this month made it clear he intends to keep playing.

Ibrahimovic’s reported weekly wage is considerably less than the £600,000-plus earned by Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and NFL star Cam Newton, according to Forbes figures.

Major League Soccer’s self-published salary figures revealed Kaka as their highest earner on £100,000-per-week, meanwhile, ahead of David Villa and former United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger.